Long Week in Puyallup

Hello There!

Stopping in to let you all know we survived the Puyallup Spring Fair. Ron worked 64.25 hours and I worked 53 hours. Needless to say we didn't do much but work and sleep. Ron ran the Fire Brigade ride. It is a kiddie ride in the shape of a fire engine. All the kiddos are seat belted in and then the fire engine goes up and makes a circle in the air. The ride lasts about 3 minutes. Ron said the most fun was to watch the kids in their excitement of getting on the ride and going way up.

I worked in the Rides Department office and Customer Service. God answered my prayers as the gal I worked with, Debbie, is a Christian. She holds the same position with the White Unit that Theresa does with the Blue Unit (the unit we work for). We had some good talks, sharing how the Lord is working in our lives and how he brought each of us to work for the carnival. Debbie has worked for Funtastic Shows for 22 years. It was so nice to be in an office where there was no swearing and just a positive outlook for each day. I look forward to meeting up with her again in Eugene and Salem later in the year. I handed out uniforms, pay sheets, coats and answered lots of questions each day. At the end of each day I collected the uniforms, pay sheets, coats and answered more questions. I also helped to process the prior days time sheets, handed out Show Dough (purple dollars that worked the same as cash at three different food booths and was a draw from peoples checks). At the end of the day yesterday I did the inventory of coats and shirts some of which stayed in Puyallup for the Big Fair in September and some were sent back to the Portland office.

Again God answered my prayers ~ before going to work in Customer Service I was told all these horrible stories of angry customers swearing at you, calling you names. The picture that was painted was one that I was not looking forward to working in. I prayed that the Lord would give me the right words to say, for me to have a joyful and happy heart while I was working and to let the love of the Lord shine through me. Every interaction with the customers were a good one for me. A couple of times I had to ask for help from Rick or Ron Burback but all went well except for one customer. In Customer Service I answered questions and checked ride cards to see how many games and ride tickets were left as well as deal with upset customers for a various reasons. We always tried to send them away happy. There was only one negative experience. I opened the window to a lady and just as I did, she started spouting things to Ron Burback who was sitting behind and to the left of me about how evil he was, that she had a good lawyer and she would see him in court, that she knew his name and was harassed for the last time by him. Ron Burback, called on the radio for the police to come and escort her off the property. Many things had transpired in the hour before I went on duty at Customer Service with this lady and she was clearly drunk and reaking of alcohol. It wasn't but a couple of minutes and three cops came up and stood at the foot of the stairs of Customer Service and watched her from afar. I felt very well protected by the local police department. I didn't see that lady again. God is so good and helped me to have an easy time at the Customer Service window whenever I was working at that post.

For the Big Fair in September I will probably do much of the same things that I did this past week, at least I hope so.

I was very proud of myself as I only spent $2.50 on a pepsi one day. Ron did buy a couple of scones so we did really well in NOT eating the fair food. We have been taking our lunches to work as well as yogurt for me and granola bars for both of us for snacks. Now to just keep that up for the rest of the summer.

I did meet the owners, Mr. Ron & Bev Burback and their son, Ron Burback. They all seemed like nice people.

One exciting thing happened while there though...on one of Ron's lunch breaks he went walking around and found Karen & Cory Crawford and their pygmy goats. Cory was Jamie's third grade teacher at Dick Scobee Elementary in Auburn. It has been over 20 years since we have seen them though we have kept in touch through Christmas cards and letters. Today, before leaving Puyallup we went by Zieger Elementary School where Cory is the principal and spent about an half hour with him. We showed him pictures of the boys and their families. It was so fun to get caught up with each other.

That about sums up our week in Puyallup. We go back there the weekend after Labor Day for 17 days.

We leave on Monday 4/19 to go to Wenatchee for the Apple Blossom Festival for two weeks.